Welcome Mytonomy!
The NewSchools Seed Fund looks for spots in the K-12 landscape where technology can support, enhance and personalize learning, especially for those students who need it most. To this end, we’re excited to welcome a new, early-stage technology company that helps high schools support their students’ quest for college. By capturing short video alumni stories, […]
FounderDating
Finding your perfect match can be a grueling experience. Many people on the hunt for their significant other have gone to great lengths to increase their odds of finding Mr. or Mrs. Right, using all available tools in their hunt. They’ll scour OK Cupid or Match.com for apposite partners, use Yelp to find the perfect […]
Rounding Up: The Other Half of Education
Last week, as our summer together in the Bay Area was drawing to a close, a group of Education Pioneers Fellows came over to my house to discuss how we would respond to an essay contest sponsored by Goldman Sachs. The prompt: What should we do to create a strong US education system that works […]
Steve Jobs on Programming Greatness
A few months back Fast Company ran an in-depth feature story on Steve Jobs. The material came from a previously lost interview conducted by tech journalist and former Apple employee Robert Cringely. The interview took place in 1995 when Steve Jobs was CEO of NeXt computer and Pixar. The unedited interview was released on iTunes […]
STEAM-powered engine to Mars
After watching NASA’s rover Curiosity land safely—and with unbelievable panache—on the Martian surface late Sunday evening, I heard a shock jock on a local sports radio show bemoaning the attention the mission was garnering. “I guess I know this is a big deal to some people, but I think we’re going overboard here,” he said. […]
Towards a Better Place
I recently spoke with an administrator at a large urban school district and he expressed his frustration with the sheer number of education vendors he is charged with managing. He has no idea which teachers are using which technologies and what’s working. Similarly, the infographic below depicts the numerous technology applications a K–12 teacher might […]
DC to VC: Boston
There is a fast growing ecosystem of early-stage ventures focused on education. However, for those ventures working in and selling to the traditional K-12 system, access to capital remains challenging. There are venture philanthropies (like NewSchools) and an expanding network of angel investors that provide capital to many of these young companies. Yet most traditional […]
The NewSchools Seed Fund
NewSchools Venture Fund is excited to announce the launch of the Seed Fund, an initiative to support high-impact, K-12 education technology companies. We’ve been supporting education entrepreneurs for 13 years through four funds and have invested over $180 million dollars in some of the leading education organizations—including, Aspire, KIPP, BetterLesson, GreatSchools, Revolution Foods and Education […]
Grading the New York Times on Education Technology
This morning, the New York Times had the latest in its occasional series, “Wouldn’t It Be Nicer If There Were No Technology in Schools” –wait, sorry, I read it wrong, the correct title is “Grading the Digital School.” The piece, titled “Teachers Resist High-Tech Push in Idaho Schools,” reveals that a new law in Idaho […]
Overcoming the Beta-Test Blues
The brainy, out-of-touch computer geek has long been a sitcom archetype. From Doogie to Leonard and Sheldon, these intelligent yet hapless characters’ struggles to communicate with normal folks is a source of amusement. But these delightful storylines about experts frustrated by the need to occasionally communicate their esoteric knowledge with the laypeople in their lives hyperbolizes […]